


Bounty Law lunch box

by radioactiveRat



Category: Once Upon A Time In Hollywood (2019)
Genre: (Bilie's only mentioned), Billie being a bad wife, Cliff being a bad husband, Cliff being in love, Fluff, M/M, One Shot, Pre-Canon, Pre-Relationship, Rick being cute, the famous Bounty Law lunchbox
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-14
Updated: 2020-11-14
Packaged: 2021-03-10 00:00:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,264
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27564946
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/radioactiveRat/pseuds/radioactiveRat
Summary: Rick's very excited about Bounty Law's new merchandise, so the first thing he does is show it to Cliff. Little does he know Cliff might have just fallen a little bit in love with him.
Relationships: Cliff Booth/Rick Dalton
Comments: 5
Kudos: 33





	Bounty Law lunch box

**Author's Note:**

> Something short, innocent and without much point, very directly inspired by the story of how Mark Hamill run up to Harrison Ford's dressing room to tell him he's a pez dispenser at the set of Star Wars. It just seemed like something Rick would do.

Cliff closed the door to Rick’s trailer with a tired sigh. This day on set has been way too long and way too draining. He had to do quite a lot of heavy stunts and was starting to feel the consequences of his work. His backside hurt from a tough fall, and he’s got himself a couple of new scratches, some deeper than others, but he doubted if any would leave a scar, though you never knew with this stuff. 

Cliff sighed again, already hearing the sound of his wife’s voice, telling him off for hurting himself again, bitching about how now she’s gonna have to listen to complaints and look at disgusting bruises, like it was Cliff’s intention to get them. 

_They should pay you more for doing all this shit._

_You better not get another fucking scar._

_Can’t believe you’re still doing this job._

Cliff thought it was funny, how Rick would often say the same exact things, almost word for word, but when he said it, Cliff could tell it was all because he was worried. Billie was angry, called him clumsy and mocked him, while Rick teased him and sometimes made fun of him, but always looked at him with a frown and guilt in his eyes, like it was his fault. He never said it out loud, but Cliff could tell he cared, and would rather not see his stuntman hurt. 

They have been working together on Bounty Law for almost a year, and in this time became almost inseparable on set. They came there together, spent every break together, prepared together, and even if one of them finished earlier they would wait for one another and leave together as well. Recently they also shared a trailer, which was strange, Cliff had to admit it, but Rick insisted on it, so Cliff wouldn’t need to leave his stuff around people he didn’t know. It was convenient, so he agreed. 

Cliff started changing out of his costume while he waited for Rick to be back. They finished at the same time, but Rick was called to do something by the producer, apparently something to do with the promotion, but Cliff knew no details. 

Not soon after the stuntman was done dressing up, he heard the door to the trailer open loudly, and Rick barged in, carrying a heavy box and sporting a wide smile. 

‘Cliff, y-you gotta see this shit!’ The actor said, and Cliff could immediately feel his enthusiasm. 

Rick put the box down with a loud _thump_ and sat next to it on the couch. Cliff only raised his eyebrow in curiosity. 

‘They gave me all this stuff to sign, a-a-apparently Bounty Law got some n-new merchandise, you really gotta see this.’ Rick said and started going through the stuff in the box. 

He was visibly excited and Cliff couldn’t help but stare at him and smile. Rick was an emotional guy, Cliff already learned that. It was like every emotion he felt he expressed way more vividly than any other man Cliff’s ever met. If he was sad he was bawling his eyes out and sobbing on Cliff’s shoulder, when he was angry he threw stuff and screamed, and when he was happy his eyes were beaming and his smile could light up the whole room. Just like right now, and Cliff absolutely loved when Rick was happy. 

‘Come here.’ Rick called and patted down the couch for Cliff to sit next to him while he buried his hands in the box. 

Cliff did just that, but couldn’t keep from groaning in pain as he sat down, he might have hurt a bit more stuff than he thought. 

‘Hey, you okay buddy?’ Rick’s smile suddenly faded when he took a glance at Cliff. 

The stuntman didn’t realize his face turned into a grimace as well, he wouldn’t wanna worry Rick too much, but as oblivious as the actor often was, he noticed some stuff. 

‘Yeah, I’m fine man.’ He said with a forced smile. ‘Today’s been a bit rough, but I’ll manage. It’s just bruises.’ 

Rick nodded, but kept his worried eyes focused on his friend’s face. ‘What ‘bout t-the, uh—’ he pointed to his jaw. ‘Y-your f-face? You’re bleeding a bit.’ 

‘Huh?’ Cliff brought a his hand up to touch his face in the same place Rick was touching his, he felt a wound under his fingers and when he looked down at them he saw a couple drops of blood. ‘Shit...’ he hissed. ‘Didn’t fucking notice.’ 

‘Here.’ Rick said and handed him a tissue from his pocket, before Cliff even started to look for one. 

‘Billie’s gonna fucking kill me.’ Cliff spoke under his nose, regretting immediately that he said that out loud. Last thing he wanted was to get Rick involved in his marriage drama. ‘What did you want to show me?’ he quickly added, not giving Rick any chance to think about his previous statement. 

Rick’s sight travelled to the box again, and his smile quickly returned. ‘Oh, r-right.’ He said and reached his hand for something in it. ‘Gonna give you a whole fucking p-presentation. T-there’s so much shit in here.’ 

Cliff could only guess what Rick would show him, if it were things to sign the first thing he had in mind were photos, maybe framed ones so they would fill a heavy crate like this. 

What Cliff didn’t expect was that Rick would pull out a toy. Not just any toy, a pretty expensive looking action figurine of a cowboy. 

‘Wait, is that supposed to be you?’ Cliff said with a laugh and saw Rick’s smile get wider. 

‘Y-yeah. That’s a fucking figurine of me.’ He said. ‘A-and it’s not the only one—wait—t-there’s a bunch.’ He started to pull out more toys, all with different outfits and poses. ‘Look at that! All me! Can you fucking believe that?’ 

‘Well, _shit._ ’ Cliff chuckled, impressed by the amount and quality of the figures. 

Cliff saw how Rick tried his best to keep the smile off his face. He looked at them all, sprawled on the couch with dreamy eyes and let out a breath. 

‘C-can you imagine... kids running around playing with a f-fucking Jake Cahill toys? All b-because of me? It’s fucking wild that’s what it is.’ 

Cliff didn’t say anything, too caught up with observing his friend. It was ridiculously cute how happy he was over this. The stuntman never thought getting toys made in your likeness would be such a big deal, but apparently for Rick it was, and somehow Cliff really liked that about him. 

‘I-if you and Billie ever got kids you’ll have an endless supply of those, I g-guarantee that.’ Rick said, his voice softer than before. 

Cliff only laughed at that. Knowing this would never happen. Not now and not with Billie. If there was something that could ever fix their broken relationship it surely wouldn’t be a kid. 

‘T-that’s not all...’ Rick cleared his throat and spoke after a moment. It looked like talking about Billie made him slightly uncomfortable. 

He continued to search for something in the box, and the next thing he pulled out was a white cup, with a red, monochrome drawing of Jake Cahill. 

‘Look at how c-cute those are.’ He said and pulled out two more, this time blue and green. It seemed like he was less interested in actually showing them to Cliff and more in looking at them himself. ‘I’m t-taking one home if they let me, they’re fucking great.’ 

Cliff thought for a moment about taking one too, but could already see Billie’s disappointed look. She didn’t like Rick much, and having anything with his face at home would drive her crazy. Maybe he should take one, just to spite her... 

‘T-there are shirts too, and p-posters, lot’s of fucking collectibles...’ Rick continued, totally immersed in the merchandise, and as he showed them all to Cliff he kept smiling, it was innocent, and a little child-like, but Cliff couldn’t help but think of Rick as very beautiful in that moment. Like a fucking ray of sunshine, lighting up the whole trailer. 

‘I saved the b-best for last.’ Rick said and held up a huge lunch box. It was colourful, with a surprisingly detailed drawing of Rick/Jake riding a horse and shooting bandits hidden somewhere behind the border of the art. Cliff held it up and looked it over, it wasn’t as impressive for him as it was for Rick, but he couldn’t help but give a grin of approval. 

‘They m-made me look real good.’ Rick said as he took the lunch box from Cliff and stared at it himself, admiring the painting, lost in his own thoughts. ‘Actually h-handsome n-n-not like those caricatures that made me fucking hate myself.’ 

Rick chuckled, but Cliff couldn’t tell if it was just a joke. Rick having self-esteem issues because of a bad drawing wasn’t a far fetched idea. He wanted to tell him he looks just as pretty as the art on the box, but stopped himself, fearful it would be werid. 

‘Y-you think they’ll sell?’ Rick asked, suddenly unsure. 

‘Yeah, why would they not? Bounty Law is getting real popular, bet there’ll be a bunch of kids going to school with a Jake Cahill lunchbox.’ 

‘Shit, y-yeah. Maybe... How crazy would that be?’ Rick said and chuckled proudly. ‘N-never thought I’d make it this far, honestly.’ 

‘I knew you would.’ Cliff assured, giving Rick a pat on the shoulder. ‘You’re Rick Fucking Dalton, it’s just a matter of time until your face is on every shirt in every store.’ 

The way Rick looked at him after those words was like it was the first time he was told something so nice. His eyes lit up in excitement and for a second Cliff thought they sparkled with tears. The stuntman felt like something shot right through his heart, because he has never seen someone look this gorgeous. He tried to remember the last time a mere look made him feel like this, but he couldn’t. He hasn’t felt anything close even at the time he fell for Billie. 

‘Why don’t we celebrate? Grab a drink?’ Cliff offered, hoping to spend as much time with Rick as he could today. 

The actor cleared his throat and furrowed his brows. ‘D-didn’t you g-got something to do with—with your wife?’ 

_Shit,_ Cliff thought, just now remembering he did tell her he would be home today. It got something to do with her meeting with her friends, and that she was sick off coming to gatherings alone while every other woman was with her husband. Cliff dreaded the evening, no wonder he forgot. Though he was surprised Rick kept up with his schedule enough to know. 

‘Well, she changed her plans yesterday.’ Cliff lied. As much as he hated not being truthful, he would much rather spend the evening with Rick. He didn’t even feel like calling Billie and giving her a heads up. He preferred to postpone listening to her angry rants and not ruin today. Part of him wanted to even come back tomorrow, get a hotel or spend the night at Rick’s, if he’d let him. 

Truth was he would love to not have to deal with Billie at all anymore. He would spend his whole life avoiding her if he could. 

‘W-well then I’d love to.’ Rick said softly, a little red in the face. ‘Why not go t-to my place? We could watch something...’ 

‘Why not. It’s about time I’ve seen the new house.’ Cliff agreed. 

Rick chuckled at that. He’s been changing apartments a lot lately, the more money was coming in he upgraded and moved again, and never seemed to be completely satisfied with his living conditions. Rick was a man of luxury, and settling in for anything else was never enough. Cliff thought if he would only save some money he would already be able to buy a house in the hills, but Rick was also a spender, and saving money for him was a ridiculous idea. Cliff never understood that, but it’s Rick’s money and he can do what he wants with it. 

If Cliff was to spend ten dollars on himself he would get an angry lecture from his wife. She was often the one to buy herself expensive shit, while Cliff spend only what he had to. He didn’t complain much though, he was never a person who wanted more than he needed. 

‘Alright then, l-let’s go to a bar first, celebrate properly.’ Rick said as he started packing up all the merchandise back into the box. ‘Drinks are on me.’ 

‘Well then, how could I refuse?’ Cliff said lightly and got up himself. 

‘W-wait in the car then, I’ll j-just get this stuff back to the producers.’ 

‘My car or yours?’ Cliff asked. 

Rick chuckled. ‘Yours. I didn’t feel like driving in today.’ 

‘Again?’ Cliff mockingly raised his eyebrows. ‘At this point you should hire me as your chauffer.’ 

Rick laughed under his nose at that. He lifted up the box and with a bit of a struggle moved to the trailer door. ‘If you’re ever desperate for money then the position is open.’ he joked, already on his way out. ‘See ya.’ 

Cliff waved and smiled to himself when Rick disappeared behind the door. He was aware going out with Rick today was gonna piss Billie off and make his whole week a living hell, he was still very much looking forward to the evening. 

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you so much for reading!  
> Don't hesitate to leave some feedback! I love reading your comments a lot


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